The majority of households in developing countries derive their livelihood from agricultural activities. Thus, a number of studies have emphasized that adoption of agricultural technologies and boosting agricultural production could be a key strategy option for escaping poverty trap of rural areas. According to previous studies, extension service and education have been revealed to be critical components of rural development by increasing agricultural productivity. However, earlier studies noted that impacts of these components in economy of developing countries, especially African countries, were negative or statistically insignificant.
Faced with the challenges, this study attempted to estimate the effects of agricultural extension and formal education on agricultural productivity in the rural area of Uganda located in East Africa. For the data collection, the survey was conducted in Mbale District located in the Eastern area of Uganda. The entire sample consists of 200 farm households which are randomly selected from several villages. However, the sample used in the analysis after exclusion is 181 households because of a few challenges regarding the response rates during the survey. In order to examine the effects of extension on farm productivity, this study used the following dependent variables: quantities of single crop output (maize, bean, and rice), gross farm revenue, and profit variable. Explanatory variables included land, labor, capital variables, and extension and education which are continuous variables.
The estimated results showed that agricultural extension service in Mbale district had a significantly positive impact on bean and rice production, gross farm revenue, and profit except for maize output. On the other hands, formal education in the district mostly had a negative or insignificant effect on each production function.
Overall, this study revealed extension to be a more critical contributor than formal education in terms of agricultural productivity in Mbale district. Back in the early 2000s, the Plan for Modernization of Agriculture (PMA) was created and NAADS (National Agricultural Advisory Services) was established in Uganda to support the transformation of the agricultural sector. On the face of it, the results of this study are expected to support an argument that the development of extension service can be effective to farm productivity in Mbale district. On the other hand, most estimates showed that formal education’s impact in the district on agricultural activities were not statistically significant. Though the estimated results for the formal education was mostly negative or statistically insignificant, the uncontrolled effect of the education such as farmers’ basic capacity and skills to learn agricultural techniques could have a positive contribution to farm productivity.